Hannah, Ava, Anna, Anni, and Bea a are five friends, aged between 15 and 17, who love music and proudly identify as intersectional feminists. They are, in many ways, average young women in 2015. They follow bands, go to gigs, dance, sing along, and get groped by strangers who handle their bodies, unhook their bras, feel them up, and take insane liberties that the wider public ignores.
Refusing to accept this casual culture of assault as an unavoidable part of their relationship with music, the teens formed Girls Against, a movement dedicated to eliminating sexual assault at gigs. Scrubbing decades of sexual misconduct from gig culture is a huge job, but Hannah, Ava, Anna, Anni, and Bea want to start by establishing a zero-tolerance approach at gigs. They’re pressing for perpetrators to be publicly identified and banned from any venue where they are known to have harassed someone.
Girl Against started in earnest in October when 17-year-old Hannah was assaulted at a Peace gig in Glasgow. She tweeted about her experience, and Peace lead singer Harry Koisser later retweeted her comments. This seemingly simple act lead to dozens of women beginning to share their own experience. The group immediately realised they’d begun something powerful. They now have over 9000 Twitter followers and an online presence that is growing daily.
Assaults in bars and clubs has been a prominent subject this year when speaking about blatant sexual intimidation in the wider community. In Melbourne the situation became so insidious the Victorian state government created a task force to address sexual assault in venues.
But despite the efforts of governments and individuals, sexual misconduct at festivals and gigs is still on the rise. Promoters and organisers have been criticised for being slow to address the issue, and not treating it with the weight it deserves. People have also flagged that while reports are troubling, they’re probably only a thin representation of the actual number of incidents each year. Like all areas of sexual violence or assault, incidents are chronically underreported.
For now, Hannah, Ava, Anna, Anni, and Bea are showing what we as individuals can do by vowing to take no shit in our own lives and protecting our friends. If you see someone being a menace, say something, place the shame on them, and make sure they’re identified as the pests they are.
To show your support for Girls Against, check out their Crowd Funder page.
Credits
Text Wendy Syfret
Image Girls Against